calls to action

Special V-Day Briefing on the Crisis in Gujarat, India

On July 17th, V-Day founder and playwright Eve Ensler chaired a briefing by noted Indian activist and documentarian Shabnam Hashmi. Ms. Hashmi briefed the media, key opinion leaders, and the public on the ongoing Gujarat atrocities, as well as on the cross-communal peace efforts of Hindu-Muslim women.

WHO: A citizen of India, Ms. Hashmi has been working to end communal violence and preserve freedom of expression in India for many years. She has served as V-Day's South Asia coordinator for the past 3 years. With her husband, Ms. Hashmi has just completed a documentary on Gujarat, never before seen outside of India. She has travelled to over 25 villages and districts over the past three months mobilizing relief and documenting the atrocities against women. Along with two colleagues she has also produced an exhibition on Gujarat called "Harvest of Hatred", which will be on display in the Congressional Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC Thursday and Friday, July 18th and 19th.

WHAT: Hundreds of innocents, including many women and children, have been killed and brutalized in Gujurat since late February. Ms. Hashmi will present stories of women who were brutalized and raped in their homes and refugee camps, and also share the strategies of Muslim and Hindu women who are demanding justice and human rights for the victims. She will show a clip from the documentary, which was funded, in part, by an award from V-Day. At the briefing, Ms. Hashmi will provide direct information about the communal violence in Gujarat and the immeasurable effects of this catastrophe on women and children so that the audience may understand how they might help and work to stop the violence.

NOTE: This special V-Day briefing also served as the launch of one of V-Day's newest initiatives to bring its global movement to end violence against women and girls to Muslim, Islamic and African countries spearheaded by newly appointed V-Day Special Representative Hibaaq Osman.